This past weekend, at White House High School in White House, Tennessee, I participated in the Poetry division of the District competition. I went with my piece "Acceptance," which included the poems Dear Straight People, by Denice Frohman, and God is Gay, by Elliot Darrow. I thought I had a really good chance at breaking because I had poured my heart and soul into this piece, but despite all of that work, I did not break. I got fifth place (in round one,) fourth place (in round two,) and fifth place again (in round three.) 2.0 (Rebecca Browning) broke though, and won first place, so that's good!
The main reason I didn't break, I believe, is because of my content material. I used poetry that is written to make someone thing. Specifically, it is written to make straight people think about how they've treated members of the LGBTQ+ community. In the words of Coach Silvers, "If you'd been in LA, you'd win first place. If you'd been in Boston, you'd have won first place. In White House Tennessee..." Must I go on? The fact of the matter is, I didn't break because I offended my judges, because I made them feel guilty. At least, I hope I did. Either that, or the fact that I quoted the head of the Westboro Baptists in 2006, Fred Phelps, in one of my poem really made them angry because he could have been their hero.
The lesson to learned from this is that no matter how good a performer you are, or could be, your subject matter is everything. If you're in LA or Boston and you do a piece about being a White Supremacist, you'd probably get last place. Just like if you do Gay poetry in Tennessee, where there's not that much progressive thought. If you're even considering doing a piece that might be controversial... Don't do it, because you can't be sure that a judge will judge you fairly, or mark you last place because you ticked them off.
I competed in Prose in the district competition last weekend. I kept A clockwork Orange, which I've had for a while despite the common confusion. I was quite pleased to actually place this time around though, I got 2nd place out of 6 total competitors. I will be keeping my piece in prose at State in less than a month. I enjoyed this last competition the most out of all of them. Not just because i broke, but the environment just seemed easier and friendlier. There were also way fewer people, and things worked smoothly. I'm very glad Alex and Corrina also broke in Prose so we have a sort of support system when going to State. I've learned that I need some sort of transition or lead-up to different parts of my piece. It's confusing as it is, just so much for someone to wrap their head around, that I need a break to allow the judges time to digest my words. I've invested more into the words of my piece than anything, I chose it for it's existential literature and I intend to convey it that way. I sincerely hope the judges at state have heard of the piece, and if they haven't, I hope they have an open mind and the ability to infer.
I competed in Prose for the district competition with my piece Dear John. I have brought this piece to numerous competitions. I placed fourth out of six people advancing to state. I will keep my piece and make a few adjustments according to the critics I got.
This competition was different than most that we go to because it was just our district so we didn't have the private schools or very competition focused schools to psych ourselves out. Having the same room with Alex and Kendall helped because when I felt unsure I would look at a familiar face. I cant wait to go with them to state and get to share a great experience with them.
In one of my notes it stated that there was no climax or that it was hard to tell. The climax of my piece is when she finally admits to falling in love with someone else so I need to work on relaying that better. I have learned the judges like it better when I use the binder as a letter periodically and act out the more important parts. State is going to be a task and with the critics and applying them I think I will do well. Im glad to be able to experience it and have Alex, Kendall, and all of our other West Creek family going. Break a leg guys we can do this.
This past weekend, at White House High School in White House, Tennessee, I participated in the Story telling division of the District competition. I competed with my same interpretation of the book "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney. In all honesty I didn't think I had a good chance of breaking , for one I did not fulfill the promise I made to myself , which was to practice more on my piece and develop the literature. Instead I brushed it off and didn't put in the necessary work to improve the overall piece which in the end caused me to finish with two threes and a sixth in my room.
I feel like one of the reasons I didn't place high is because I didn't use nor did I apply the critiques you gave me to my performances . I went in my room all 3 times and went with the flow . I was more focused on getting it over with rather than wanting to do it again at State .
A lesson I've learned from these past few years of competing in speech competitions , is to always apply yourself ,even when you feel overworked or have a play the day before , because now matter how much you don't want to participate in a speech competition ever again you will always want to feel that joy of seeing your name scroll down .
That is absolutely true, we can pretend and say we don't care about competition all we want. But we all have that desire to hear our names during awards when they are announcing 1st place. I hope you take this learning opportunity as a guideline through life. Don't ever sell yourself short because you are afraid or too lazy to sell out. Do it because you can, you never know what could happen when you do. You could've received 4th place and would be going to state. But now you won't know because you went into competition with an attitude of "there's no way I can place."
For the district competition I competed in Humorous Interpretation with the piece Appropriate Audience Behavior. I received 2nd place and will be advancing to state.
Though I am grateful to be going to state it was very much bittersweet receiving 2nd place for the third time with the same piece. Every single time I've been so close, I've changed and tweaked and thought I improved the piece so many times. The more action I seem to add the more lines I forgot and my time decreased. I thought that since I knew my piece the lines didn't really matter, that they would come as I continued to perform. However that seemed to hurt me more than help me, I need to really memorize my lines and put an action with my lines for muscle memory. Hopefully that will stretch my time. Sometimes I think that maybe this isn't the winning piece I thought it could be, maybe I wore it out.
Now that I have evaluated why I received 2nd place so many times, why my time has decreased, the critics I received by the judges, and all of the numerous way I have tried to improve this piece. I now have to decide if I want to try ONE last time with Appropriate Audience Behavior or will I let it go and enter state with a new piece.
For the district competition I competed in the category Storytelling. My piece was the same piece I've done called "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon" by Mike Thaler. I finished in districts in 3rd and will be advancing to state.
Overall, I was surprised when I heard my name being called for third. I lack a lot of confidence in my piece and in my mind it's just really not that good. But apparently that's not the case. This was the first time that I really sold out, and I think that is mainly because I was really comfortable doing it. I've said the piece so many times that it just flows out naturally now so it was easier to add more excitement and movements. Overall, I think at districts was definitely my best performances.
Now that I've been to districts and am going to state, I want to try to be more confident in my piece. Every time I go to a competition I do this "ugh I'm not going to break" kind of thing. I go into the competition not confident and that makes me lack on my actual acting. I don't want to hold back anymore and I want to be as extra as I need to be. I would also like to try to give each character some kind of memorable thing they do because I feel like right now they are all kind of bland. Overall, I'm excited to see how things go at state.
LaBrea, you are more talented than you think. You need to go in there with a mindset that you are worthy of being there just like the rest of them. It's because you are! Don't count yourself out and be as bold as them. You deserve it!
For the district competition, I was dramatic interpretation and I did my piece called "I Dream of Lillian", by Elise Sharron.
This competition I feel like I gave it my all. I did break, however during the final round I let my nervousness get the best of me and my position was switched from 4th to 5th place. So, sadly I'm not going to states, but I am very proud of myself. I felt like this competition, I just wanted to prove myself. As a theatre 4, who hasn't been in a lot of plays, I just wanted to show what I got. And I felt like I did that. And I'm happy that I even broke, because I practiced my butt of for it.
Now that I know I will crack under pressure, I know that I need to work on not being so nervous. I felt like my competitors pieces were so good that you could honestly see that I was panicking about performing. So now I know that I need to work just relaxing. Not panicking as much and actually just having fun with it.
District Competition was supposed to be my final Speech and Debate tournament I would ever attend in my high school career, or so I thought. The past weekend I competed in Prose with my piece, 'This Side of Home'. This tournament was a little bit different than others because if you placed 4th and up, you automatically advanced to State. Since there was only 6 people we did not have a finals round. I heard " And in 3rd place, from West Creek Highshool..." and it hit me. I'm going to State.
The ride back was a bit surreal for me because this just did not seem realistic. State was what we all watched on YouTube that seemed so far fetch for little 'ole West Creek. State was only happening in places like Oregon, California or Washington; not Tennessee. State was for people whose parents paid thousands of dollars per semester for an all girls or boys school, not a public school full of Army brats. State was for girls who have been doing this since their freshman year of high school and were BORN this talented, not for a girl who was born with the same amount of talent but only just started a year ago. But State IS for a girl like that. I am not any less talented than the next St. Cecilia girl or Ravenwood 2 time district champion. I can be them. As I kept looking and holding my trophy, I realized that there was a lot of work I had to put in and I needed to fast.
Now that I am the point of no return, I have to dedicate time to my piece. It was by chance that I was even capable of making it through Districts because I had two people who happened to be worse than me. But I can't go into State with that mindset because I am competing against the best of the best. It may seem impossible because it's Wednesday but I know I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me. I am going to put in time for the next two days with people who can give me ideas that will help make my piece stand out. It can be done. If I really want it, it can be done.
This past weekend, at White House High School in White House, Tennessee, I participated in the Poetry division of the District competition. I went with my piece "Acceptance," which included the poems Dear Straight People, by Denice Frohman, and God is Gay, by Elliot Darrow. I thought I had a really good chance at breaking because I had poured my heart and soul into this piece, but despite all of that work, I did not break. I got fifth place (in round one,) fourth place (in round two,) and fifth place again (in round three.) 2.0 (Rebecca Browning) broke though, and won first place, so that's good!
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I didn't break, I believe, is because of my content material. I used poetry that is written to make someone thing. Specifically, it is written to make straight people think about how they've treated members of the LGBTQ+ community. In the words of Coach Silvers, "If you'd been in LA, you'd win first place. If you'd been in Boston, you'd have won first place. In White House Tennessee..." Must I go on? The fact of the matter is, I didn't break because I offended my judges, because I made them feel guilty. At least, I hope I did. Either that, or the fact that I quoted the head of the Westboro Baptists in 2006, Fred Phelps, in one of my poem really made them angry because he could have been their hero.
The lesson to learned from this is that no matter how good a performer you are, or could be, your subject matter is everything. If you're in LA or Boston and you do a piece about being a White Supremacist, you'd probably get last place. Just like if you do Gay poetry in Tennessee, where there's not that much progressive thought. If you're even considering doing a piece that might be controversial... Don't do it, because you can't be sure that a judge will judge you fairly, or mark you last place because you ticked them off.
Your piece had me on the edge of the desk when you were performing and they are such great pieces its just crappy luck about the judges.
DeleteI competed in Prose in the district competition last weekend. I kept A clockwork Orange, which I've had for a while despite the common confusion. I was quite pleased to actually place this time around though, I got 2nd place out of 6 total competitors. I will be keeping my piece in prose at State in less than a month.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this last competition the most out of all of them. Not just because i broke, but the environment just seemed easier and friendlier. There were also way fewer people, and things worked smoothly. I'm very glad Alex and Corrina also broke in Prose so we have a sort of support system when going to State.
I've learned that I need some sort of transition or lead-up to different parts of my piece. It's confusing as it is, just so much for someone to wrap their head around, that I need a break to allow the judges time to digest my words. I've invested more into the words of my piece than anything, I chose it for it's existential literature and I intend to convey it that way. I sincerely hope the judges at state have heard of the piece, and if they haven't, I hope they have an open mind and the ability to infer.
You have great emotion and the accent is spot on. You have a really good piece and you relay it great.
DeleteI competed in Prose for the district competition with my piece Dear John. I have brought this piece to numerous competitions. I placed fourth out of six people advancing to state. I will keep my piece and make a few adjustments according to the critics I got.
ReplyDeleteThis competition was different than most that we go to because it was just our district so we didn't have the private schools or very competition focused schools to psych ourselves out. Having the same room with Alex and Kendall helped because when I felt unsure I would look at a familiar face. I cant wait to go with them to state and get to share a great experience with them.
In one of my notes it stated that there was no climax or that it was hard to tell. The climax of my piece is when she finally admits to falling in love with someone else so I need to work on relaying that better. I have learned the judges like it better when I use the binder as a letter periodically and act out the more important parts. State is going to be a task and with the critics and applying them I think I will do well. Im glad to be able to experience it and have Alex, Kendall, and all of our other West Creek family going. Break a leg guys we can do this.
This past weekend, at White House High School in White House, Tennessee, I participated in the Story telling division of the District competition. I competed with my same interpretation of the book "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney. In all honesty I didn't think I had a good chance of breaking , for one I did not fulfill the promise I made to myself , which was to practice more on my piece and develop the literature. Instead I brushed it off and didn't put in the necessary work to improve the overall piece which in the end caused me to finish with two threes and a sixth in my room.
ReplyDeleteI feel like one of the reasons I didn't place high is because I didn't use nor did I apply the critiques you gave me to my performances . I went in my room all 3 times and went with the flow . I was more focused on getting it over with rather than wanting to do it again at State .
A lesson I've learned from these past few years of competing in speech competitions , is to always apply yourself ,even when you feel overworked or have a play the day before , because now matter how much you don't want to participate in a speech competition ever again you will always want to feel that joy of seeing your name scroll down .
That is absolutely true, we can pretend and say we don't care about competition all we want. But we all have that desire to hear our names during awards when they are announcing 1st place. I hope you take this learning opportunity as a guideline through life. Don't ever sell yourself short because you are afraid or too lazy to sell out. Do it because you can, you never know what could happen when you do. You could've received 4th place and would be going to state. But now you won't know because you went into competition with an attitude of "there's no way I can place."
DeleteFor the district competition I competed in Humorous Interpretation with the piece Appropriate Audience Behavior. I received 2nd place and will be advancing to state.
ReplyDeleteThough I am grateful to be going to state it was very much bittersweet receiving 2nd place for the third time with the same piece. Every single time I've been so close, I've changed and tweaked and thought I improved the piece so many times. The more action I seem to add the more lines I forgot and my time decreased. I thought that since I knew my piece the lines didn't really matter, that they would come as I continued to perform. However that seemed to hurt me more than help me, I need to really memorize my lines and put an action with my lines for muscle memory. Hopefully that will stretch my time. Sometimes I think that maybe this isn't the winning piece I thought it could be, maybe I wore it out.
Now that I have evaluated why I received 2nd place so many times, why my time has decreased, the critics I received by the judges, and all of the numerous way I have tried to improve this piece. I now have to decide if I want to try ONE last time with Appropriate Audience Behavior or will I let it go and enter state with a new piece.
For the district competition I competed in the category Storytelling. My piece was the same piece I've done called "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon" by Mike Thaler. I finished in districts in 3rd and will be advancing to state.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I was surprised when I heard my name being called for third. I lack a lot of confidence in my piece and in my mind it's just really not that good. But apparently that's not the case. This was the first time that I really sold out, and I think that is mainly because I was really comfortable doing it. I've said the piece so many times that it just flows out naturally now so it was easier to add more excitement and movements. Overall, I think at districts was definitely my best performances.
Now that I've been to districts and am going to state, I want to try to be more confident in my piece. Every time I go to a competition I do this "ugh I'm not going to break" kind of thing. I go into the competition not confident and that makes me lack on my actual acting. I don't want to hold back anymore and I want to be as extra as I need to be. I would also like to try to give each character some kind of memorable thing they do because I feel like right now they are all kind of bland. Overall, I'm excited to see how things go at state.
LaBrea, you are more talented than you think. You need to go in there with a mindset that you are worthy of being there just like the rest of them. It's because you are! Don't count yourself out and be as bold as them. You deserve it!
DeleteFor the district competition, I was dramatic interpretation and I did my piece called "I Dream of Lillian", by Elise Sharron.
ReplyDeleteThis competition I feel like I gave it my all. I did break, however during the final round I let my nervousness get the best of me and my position was switched from 4th to 5th place. So, sadly I'm not going to states, but I am very proud of myself. I felt like this competition, I just wanted to prove myself. As a theatre 4, who hasn't been in a lot of plays, I just wanted to show what I got. And I felt like I did that. And I'm happy that I even broke, because I practiced my butt of for it.
Now that I know I will crack under pressure, I know that I need to work on not being so nervous. I felt like my competitors pieces were so good that you could honestly see that I was panicking about performing. So now I know that I need to work just relaxing. Not panicking as much and actually just having fun with it.
District Competition was supposed to be my final Speech and Debate tournament I would ever attend in my high school career, or so I thought. The past weekend I competed in Prose with my piece, 'This Side of Home'. This tournament was a little bit different than others because if you placed 4th and up, you automatically advanced to State. Since there was only 6 people we did not have a finals round. I heard " And in 3rd place, from West Creek Highshool..." and it hit me. I'm going to State.
ReplyDeleteThe ride back was a bit surreal for me because this just did not seem realistic. State was what we all watched on YouTube that seemed so far fetch for little 'ole West Creek. State was only happening in places like Oregon, California or Washington; not Tennessee. State was for people whose parents paid thousands of dollars per semester for an all girls or boys school, not a public school full of Army brats. State was for girls who have been doing this since their freshman year of high school and were BORN this talented, not for a girl who was born with the same amount of talent but only just started a year ago. But State IS for a girl like that. I am not any less talented than the next St. Cecilia girl or Ravenwood 2 time district champion. I can be them. As I kept looking and holding my trophy, I realized that there was a lot of work I had to put in and I needed to fast.
Now that I am the point of no return, I have to dedicate time to my piece. It was by chance that I was even capable of making it through Districts because I had two people who happened to be worse than me. But I can't go into State with that mindset because I am competing against the best of the best. It may seem impossible because it's Wednesday but I know I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me. I am going to put in time for the next two days with people who can give me ideas that will help make my piece stand out. It can be done. If I really want it, it can be done.